28 September 2005

Good Neighbors

The alien loved our fences. We have such installations on my home world, she said, but on a much smaller scale. No one ever thought to make an art piece that takes up the entire planet. The fences aren’t an art piece, we said, they are to protect property. The alien took in this information. You aren’t suggesting, she finally said, that there is on your world the notion that pieces of your planet can be owned by its inhabitants? This was clearly a concept for a later day. Would you like to visit one of our zoos? we asked.